Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself…

Hey DJ, drop the beat! — Allow me to reintroduce myself…my name is Jay, (oooh) J-to-the-A-Y….she’s a dope chick and that’s no lie. Needless to say my freestyle game is weak but you get the point. Given Relaxed Thairapy has grown in followers, evolved in content and I now have transitioning hair, it’s perfect timing to reintroduce myself.

Who is Jay?

I’m a down to earth southern girl looking to be a positive influence on others. I started Relaxed Thairapy in 2013 to help women achieve healthier hair. I started my blog after successfully growing my type 4, coarse hair to waist length. [Edited: Relaxed Thairapy was rebranded to A Day By Jay — the new name gives me creative freedom to cover a range of topics.]

I was fortunate to grow up with an aunt as a hair stylist so achieving healthy hair was not an issue while living at home.

I’ve had every hair style and hair color imaginable. I even had a juicy jheri curl! Yikes.

Turning Point with My Hair

In 2008, my husband was diagnosed with cancer. I did not have time nor the desire to frequent the salon. My hair broke off badly, especially around the edges. No doubt, it was the result of stress and neglect. One day I looked in mirror and recognized my hair needed a change. I Googled hair topics and the rest is history. I became a DIYer and haven’t looked back.

It took a while but my hair recovered. Unfortunately, I had additional setbacks through the years by using the wrong products, techniques and hair tools. Therefore, I stopped getting touch ups for a while because enough was enough.

Journey In Pictures

Progress Pics (2010-2014)

Current Status: Transitioning Hair

My hair is somewhere around mid-back length and my goal is to maintain this length throughout my transition. Dealing with multiple textures with transitioning hair is so annoying but gosh, I love the thickness of my hair bun!

Did You Know?

Now that I have transitioning hair, many asked when will I change the name of my blog. I chose the name Relaxed Thairapy simply because I find hair to be relaxing and therapeutic not because I had relaxed hair. I thought the name was pretty catchy when I selected it but oh-em-gee it has been more of confusion than anything.

Where Am I Headed!

Although hair is where my heart is, I want to be a better me from hair to toe. Therefore, my content evolved over time and now includes beauty and lifestyle.

Although I am transitioning to natural hair, the mission is still the same – healthy hair! I would love to transition without big chopping but who am I fooling. Just as soon as I have enough length to work with, I can see myself cutting off the relaxed hair.

Although I don’t know my exact natural texture, I thought it would be the hardest to work with because it appears to be super kinky, then and now.

But get this, it’s the relaxed hair that’s most problematic. It gets tangled easily and coils around itself which is super annoying. My next milestone is 2 years post relaxer in June 2016.

My Photos

Forgive the grainy photos but I grew up in the Polaroid and disposable camera era.

Your bun is delicious! OK I can’t believe you still have the old photos! I guess I could get some from my mom. She keeps the old ones….poor digitally challenged woman LOL! just kidding.

OK fun fact (yep I read lol): I was relaxed from the time I was about 9 years old until around 13/14 years ago. My hair was its longest when it was relaxed but I think that’s because although I’m natural now, I didn’t really learn how to care for it until about 4 years ago…so i’m on my way to bypass my relaxed length!

I hated taking pictures as a kid so mom doesn’t have many pictures of me. And trust, she’s not parting with those she do have. I used my cell phone to copy the originals so I cheated a bit. :0)

What a neat fun fact! Now that you have your regimen down, it should be smooth sailing from here. What’s your goal length in a shrunken state?

Thank you so much for the well wishes for my hubs. He’s doing really well. We had an emotional setback last year. He ended up having a false positive on his PET/CT. What an emotional roller coaster that was. Prayerfully, all of that is behind us.

TY pretty lady. But lol, I got a good laugh at that one. So since you speak jheri curl, do you remember the leisure curl – that was the curl that had more of a body wave and less of tight curls? LOVED IT!!!

I love your story Jay. Who cares if your hair is relaxed or natural? I will always be a fan…

Fun fact about me: I am extremely undecided about what to do with my hair. I have gone from relaxed and colour treated to natural, to relaxed, to transitioning, to natural to relaxed again in the space of 4 years. Right now, I feel like transitioning again

Hi Yvette, thank you so much for the love and support. I truly, truly appreciate you!

You’ve done it all, so tell me, which did you like best? At the current phase I’m in, I can see where there are pros and cons to both. I love color but every time I’ve gotten it, it has broken my hair off. Did color give you trouble?

I really enjoyed this post, Jay! You know I had that Jay-Z song stuck in my head the whole time I was reading, right? Lol. Reading your hair story was so inspiring. You make me want to stay consistent with my haircare regimen and not stress so much about setbacks. I wish you the best in your transitioning and journey back to natural, love!Dre recently posted…Update Your Beauty Routine With Dove Dry Oil Collection